1 - 07/08/13

Blast off

Well, this is it folks. I´m not sure what I should say. I feel like I should write something inspiring.

This week was incredible. A good way to finish the mission. On Wednesday morning we got a phone call from President Fortuna. My comp is going to train! I am so proud of my kid. He´s going to be a great trainer. That means that all of Friday was spent going to Tegucigalpa and 8 hours in the bus.

Saturday we went to a zone activity in the other city in Olancho. Its called Juticalpa. We had a Zone activity, and then a rescue activity. We were there all day, and we got a ride home from the district president. We got there just in time for the baptism of "DM". He asked me to baptize him. I was humbled by his request, and of course I accepted.

Sunday was the confirmation. Once again, I was asked to confirm him. It was an amazing spiritual experience. I felt the spirit in me and it was by far the strongest I´ve ever felt the spirit in a blessing. Way cool guys. I also gave the opening prayer, blessed the sacrament, shared my testimony, and I gave the gospel principles class. Yeah, it was a busy day.

Monday we went to Tegucigalpa again. This time we went to Picacho, the giant Christ statue that overlooks all of Teguc. It was a little surreal for me. I remember flying into Honduras and the flight attendant told us to look out the window to see it. Time has flown by so fast. Yes, pun intended.

In summary, I can´t believe that my mission is over. Today is my last day of work. Tomorrow we wake up at 3am to head over to transfers. I´ll go to the temple and have my exit interview. Then on Thursday at 1pm I´ll be heading home on a jet plane. Crazy huh

Well, the mission has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have been the biggest convert, and I know that everyone says that. I have learned more about my Lord and Savior. I know that He loves me. I know that we can be cleansed from sin and we can find peace and purpose to our lives through the Gospel. I will always remember the good times that I´ve had here in Honduras, and I will always have my name tag tattooed on my heart.

See you all very soon. Love you tons

Elder Hansen

2 - 07/01/13

Man, this week has been AWESOME!

I´m pretty stoked about going home. I miss my family.

And yes, I´m still working, and I´m only a little baggy or trunky

We started the week off with surprise interchanges with the other elders. They aren´t doing their job, so I took one and the ZL´s took the other companion, and we left and worked with them for 2 days straight. They don´t get along, they are opening an area, they aren´t studying or planning at night, and they don´t have any progressing investigators. They aren´t finding any new investigators, so pretty much they´ve wasted these past 4 weeks. We told Pres that it might actually be better to take them both out and white wash the area again. I was sad, but its the truth. I talked alot with them both, and took them aside, and tried to teach more with my example than with words. I made sure that we had 2 really spiritual days full of work, and we did. It was good, but in the end, they returned to their bad habits. They´re obedient when they have someone babysitting them, but without the babysitter they return to their bad habits. Maybe one day they will understand the Doctrine of Christ.

I mentioned to "DM" that I was leaving in 2 weeks. He didn´t know. He told his cousin that he wants me to baptize him. His cousin is in the District Presidency, and he told me to go and challenge him to be baptized. He accepted, and this Saturday he´ll be baptized.

He came to church for the first time on Sunday. I had to get special permission from Pres Fortuna to baptize him, but he says to go for it. He knows more than half of the members because his wife and children are members for years, and his cousin is a leader in the church. It was really cool, and its nice to know that I´ll be finishing the mission with a bang. We´re going to baptize a family! Woo Hoo!

I realized that my mission is a lot like the morning jogs that we do at the field by our house. Its always hard to start, and you start off with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. Afterwards, it starts to hurt, and you have to pace yourself and get into your rhythm. Once you get in the rhythm, it starts to feel really good, and you like it alot. Whenever I get on the last stretch of the jog, I always go all out and sprint the last part. I feel like when I started my mission, I was super excited to be here. It was hard to get into my groove, and painful at first, but in time, it felt good. Now I feel like I´m in the last bit of the sprint. The end is in sight! I´m so close, and I know that even though its hard, I´ve gotta give it my all.

Well, I love you all, and I´m excited to see you in 10 days.

Elder Hansen

3 - 06/24/13

This week has been a great week. 

We had some amazing lessons this week with our investigators. We challenged everyone to come to church, and they all promised to us that they would come. 

On Saturday, we had an activity with the branch where we left with the members to go do visits to invite less actives to come to church on Sunday. We visited a lot of people, and it was awesome! It felt good to work side by side with the members to help them meet their goals. 

On Saturday, I felt the best that I have in a long time. Things were looking really good for Sunday. 

On Sunday, our investigators didn´t come to church. It hurt a lot. I told myself that I shouldn´t have gotten my hopes up. Somethings never do change. It was hard for me, because it guarantees that I won´t be able to see their baptisms. I have a lot of love for Familia Mejia, and I was really hoping to do what everyone told me was impossible. 

Afterwards we were pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of people came to church. We´ve been averaging about 60, and we had 100 people come!  It was incredible. We had a few investigators show up late, which helped ease the pain a little. I realized that it´ll all be alright in the end, and that this isn´t my kingdom that we are building. This is the Lord´s kingdom, and even if I´m not here to see their baptisms, I´ll know that I was a tool in the Lord´s hands for helping them get to there. 

The broadcast was really cool. I enjoyed it, and the Elders here are all really excited to use facebook to teach the gospel. I´m not sure if they´re going to implement it in our mission right now, but we´ll see what happens. Well, I won´t see it, but that's okay. I got super excited and then my comp laughed at me and reminded me that "el fin sea cerca Elder Hansen." (Translation:  "The end is near, Elder Hansen.") 

Well, I´m going to go and have lunch with the District. I love you all, and I love being a missionary. I´m going to endure to the end and work my little fanny off. See you soon!

Elder Hansen

4 - 06/17/13

It is really not 4 weeks, its 3 and a half, or if you really want to count, its 24 days. 

Yeah, its pretty weird. 

This week was pretty cool. We had a leadership meeting in Tegucigalpa. Yup, another 8 hours in bus. Luckily I didn´t get puked on this time, and I had some nice time to talk with the Zone Leaders and get some advice on how to help the district. There are some things that are holding the other elders back from being obedient. There´s going to be lots of interchanges this week. 

Things are going a lot better with my companion. We´re talking alot more, and I´m learning how to handle these situations. I almost blew up on him on Sunday. I managed to hold in my anger at church, and I told him he was going to get some when we got home. Luckily for both of us, home is 30 minutes walking, and I was able to blow off some steam and calm down. Rather than yelling at him, I calmly asked him why did he directly disobey. He told me he was going to go to the bathroom with another Elder, and he ended up leaving church and going to a members house. He did it last week, and I told him not to do it, so I was frustrated. He told me that he caved under peer pressure, and that he felt terrible about it, and that he was sorry. It went alot better than if I would´ve just started yelling. So the lesson learned is ask why they did what they did, and then explain the consequences of bad actions. I was proud of myself that I handled it well. We hugged and went to work. 

This week was a good week for work. We had some really really powerful lessons with our investigators. We tripled our number of progressing investigators, which is AWESOME! Everyone in the branch tells me I have to finish with a bang, so hopefully we will. We should be baptized a part member family that everyone told me that he would never change. Turns out he did 

Things are looking good in the district as well. I´m really excited. 

It is weird to be where I´m at. I love the mission. Its hard to say goodbye. I know I´ve still got 3 more weeks, but for those who´ve served missions, they know that 3 weeks goes by sooooo fast in the mission. 

We´ve got branch conference this weekend. We´re going to be working with the leaders on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to try and have a big turnout. If we can consistently have 100 for an assistance, they´ll start to build us a new chapel that is also closer to our area. It would change the 30 minute speed walk to a 3 minutes speed walk. We´re excited 

We had a huge turn out this week. Its the most since I´ve been here, and we´re hoping to not look back and just keep on climbing. There is an excitement here, which is really cool to see. 

Well guys, I guess that is about it for this week. I found a really cool scripture that I like. Maybe you´ve already read it, but if not, enjoy! 

Isaiah 64:8

I love you all. See you soon

Elder Hansen

5 - 06/10/13

Since the last time I wrote you guys, so much stuff has happened! This week has been crazy!

So last P day, after writing, we decided to go to the overlook of the city of Catacamas, which also happens to have a giant white cruz with flashing lights. It was a nice little climb with a ton of stairs. We got all hot and sweaty and took some pictures. It was fun, but it wasn´t as fun as today.

Today we woke up at 5:30 to go hike to a waterfall. It was AMAZING! It took us over 3 1/2 hours to get there, and we were planning on it only taking 2 hours, so that was a problem. The falls were gorgeous, and I had a really good time. It was nice to break out of the usual routine and fortify our friendship with the other Elders in the district. We found a black snake with yellow stripes by the side of the river. It was already dead, but I picked it up and turns out that it was about 6 and 1/2 feet tall. Yup, it was big. I think just about everyone fell on their butt at least once during the hike. We hiked back in an hour and half, and mostly that was because we decided to follow the real trail and not go trail blazing. Our ¨guide¨ is the ward mission leader of the other ward.  He told everyone that he´s done it a million times, and that he knew where he was going. Yup, he had no idea what he was doing. But it made it alot funnier to be honest, and when we were going home we found the real trail, and it made the hike a lot easier.

In other news, we had a baptism on Saturday! "S" got baptized! Wooo hooo! Its our first here in Catacamas, and it won´t be the last! This area is known for not baptizing, so it was nice to break the mold and help a soul come unto Christ. He bore his testimony and everything, and I´m so proud of him. Elder "J" baptized him, and I think Elder "J" was more nervous than the person being baptized. It was funny to me, but also really cool. I´m proud of my kid. He´s a good guy.

On Friday we had interviews. President told me 3 times that the end is near. What the heck man! Ha ha ha, I love President Fortuna. He´s a great guy, and he gave me some great advice. I´ve got to finish the mission feeling the spirit really strong so that I can take that spirit home with me. So true, so true.

Well, I love you all. I hope you have a great week this week. Don´t worry, be happy

Elder Hansen

6 - 06/03/13

This is weird.

Last transfer...

I guess this is it huh?

Well, Wednesday we had transfers. We now have sister missionaries in Catacamas, which is awesome. Sister "P" was in my district in my last area, and she´s a super hard worker. She extended her mission, so she´ll be here 3 more months to finish training her companion. She´s a beast, so I´m stoked to have her here.

Its been really wet here lately. My shoes are almost always covered in mud. But I like it because it's a little bit colder than it was before.

On Wednesday I had a really cool experience. I got to be a butcher and kill chickens! I chopped off its head and then held it down while it flapped around like crazy. You know everyone has heard of the expression running around like a chicken with its head chopped off. Well, they don´t really run, they just convulse. Its kinda sickening, with the blood and everything. I had to take a step back because I almost fainted. That was a new experience for me, and I guess it runs in the family. I wrote it down in the journal and we took some pictures.

We´re working our butts off here in our area. I´m really warming up to my comp, and he´s helping me to keep my mind off of home. I´m honestly not trunky or baggy. We´re really focused on reaching our goal this month. Its 20, which is more than double the average. Last month we got 12, but we´re pretty pumped to get 20 this month. We´ve got 14 dates with more in the oven. Hopefully I can finish my last month by actually meeting my goal. It´ll be a first and a last for me. Sweeet.

Well, I love you all. Take care and see you soon

Elder Hansen

7 - 05/27/13

I´m wet.

The rainy season was supposed to start a month ago. Well, it started yesterday. It's been fun sloshing around in the mud these last two days. Its funny because right before it rained it was hotter than normal. I got burnt, and then came the downpour. That's so funny to me. Only in Honduras.

I had some cool experiences this week. I got to see a wild hog. They smell worse than Tanner and I during Christmas break! They have a hole on their backs that releases a gas whenever they get mad or feel threatened. It is sooooooo gross! But yeah, one of the families we are visiting bought them and they´re going to eat them too. Yup

We had 2 trips to the big city of Tegucigalpa this week, and it was back to back. In total, 16 hours in a cramped bus. Luckily we didn´t kill anybody this time. On the way back from the first trip, I got puked on by the little girl sitting next to me. Yup, she covered me in chicken and mango smoothie. It smelled worse than the pigs. We were about 10 minutes into the journey, so I had to sit in it for about 4 hours. It was a lovely experience. Ha

Well, I kinda got after the Elders last week for being disobedient. One of the Elders threw in the towel on Friday. He´s on a plane right now to go home. He only lasted a month in the mission. I´m kinda sad that he´s going, but at the same time, we can´t change peoples agency. He simply just doesn´t want to be here. They also took out his comp, so they closed the area

So they might be sending sister missionaries to open the area. Changes are on Wednesday, but I won´t have any, I hope. If they take me away from my kid, I think it might break my heart. I guess then I´ll feel like Dad does with Institute.

Well, things are going great. I´m loving the mission, and I´m learning things every day. I was in charge of the branch on Sunday, and I taught a class about humbling ourselves to the will of the Father. We must be humble and submissive like a child if we are to inherit the kingdom. Eyes on the prize baby.

Elder Hansen

8 - 05/20/13

Altos y Bajos (Highs and lows) 

This week was pretty good.  I had an amazing time in the temple, which I´ll talk about more later on in the letter.  We also had a miracle happen at church.  We passed by to bring our investigators, and they told us they wouldn´t come.  My comp told them to come, and we left.  As we were walking away, he told me that they´d be at church.  I said, "Wow, you´ve got a lot of faith."  All 3 of them came.  He said "told you so".  He also told me that they´re going to be baptized this weekend.  I´m a believer.

On Tuesday we had a temple trip. We woke up at 3 am to get ready to go. It was hard, but we knew that it´d be worth it. I was so stoked to get to go to the temple, and I was praying that I would have an amazing experience there. 

The Lord answered that prayer in a way that I didn´t see coming. 

So it was about 7:45 in the morning.  We´d been in the bus for about 3 hours or so.  We were going to pick up the last 8 Elders that live in Talanga (including my kid Elder Aguilar).  We´re about 5 minutes out of Talanga, and I recognized the road and I knew where we were.  I was sitting in the front seat next to Elder Yela, a really good friend of mine.  We were talking, having a good time when my eyes were directed to a someone on the side of the road.  My foot instinctively lifted up to push on the brakes, even though I wasn´t even driving.  Later I received the confirmation that that was the Holy Ghost protecting me.  

Anyways, I stopped listening and started watching the man.  He got on his motorcycle and I´m guessing he forgot to look back.  He just turned it on and literally jumped right in front of the bus, and the bus was going about 60.  We had about a second to react.  I started to shout Whoa!  The bus driver reacted really fast. He swerved to the left lane and honked the horn.  Sadly, the motorcycle driver saw the bus, and tried to beat it to the other side of the road.  He didn´t make it in time.  We hit him dead on, and the bike passed under the left side tires, front and back.  There was no doubt as to whether or not he was dead.  We all knew it was over.  The bus driver pulled the bus over, said a prayer, and turned himself over to the cops.  We got out, saw the bus, and a few of us went over to see the body.  I was one of them, with the ZL´s, and it was pretty graphic. It's an image that I probably won´t ever forget.  We all got back in the bus, and waited for the police to show up.  The ambulance got there in about 3 minutes, and it took the police 2 hours.  Honduras is so messed up.  Anyways, Elder Yela and I were asked to give our testimonies as to what happened.  We called Pres to make sure it was okay, and he gave us the the thumbs up.  We told them how it went down, and the guy writing our testimony changed our words to make it sound worse than it was.  A lawyer showed up, and she fixed it for us, because we wouldn´t sign it until it was fixed.  We used our money to hire another bus from some members, and we left to go to the temple.  

We got there about 12, did a session, and to be honest, I didn´t feel any hunger or the time pass by. When I was in the session, I felt the spirit, and I forgot about the experience for the majority of the session, but it kept coming back in my mind.  I got into the Celestial Room, and I prayed really hard for help.  I needed peace for my soul.  I needed comfort.  I got it immediately.  It was incredible.  I kept praying, thanking God for all that He has given me.  It was a very sacred moment for me. 

I got the strong impression to trust in God.  He has a plan.  The accident was part of the plan, and he put it in there to help me come closer to Him.  It helped me to have an amazing time in the temple.  It helped me to realize that death isn´t the end, and that I should always be ready for when it happens to me.  It taught me that the Holy Ghost was protecting me, and prompted me of the accident before it happened.  These are a few of the impressions that came, and there are many more, but those are the big ones. 

Well, Thanks for everything guys. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week. I´m going to have an excellent week this week. We have a seventy passing through, so that´ll be fun. Wish me luck! 

Elder Hansen

All the small things - 05/20/13

9 - 05/13/13

Well, we´re in the single digits. That's pretty weird to me.

Talking to you guys last night was pretty sweet. I hope I didn´t make all of you guys super sleepy for your days today. It was great talking to you guys, and it made me so happy. Nothing like a little motivation to make you work harder. 

Things are going great here in Honduras.   Working hard like always.  As far as news, this past week was a great week.  We had a reunion with Pres and Zona Talanga. I got to see a lot of old friends, like Elder "A".  I trained him almost a year ago.  Time goes by so fast. The meeting was great, and I learned a lot of stuff.  It was interesting to me, because generally it's like they grab us by the necks and say go baptize more people and stop being so disobedient!  But this time the enfoque was in the less actives, which was pretty cool to me.  We´re going to be working a lot more with the ward so that this district will finally become a stake.  We´re so close!  I can feel it!

My comp is a huge support to me. This week there has been a lot of disobedience in the district. The Elders are listening to music and inviting people to their houses.  I told them to stop, and when I passed by 20 minutes later they still had the music on.  I told them I was disappointed in them, and I really am.  We´re never going to do anything if we´re disobedient.   They don´t have faith that we´ll meet the goal this month, and obviously they can´t if they continue in their unrighteousness. 

Enough of that rant. 

So I gave a talk in church, and it also had to do with obedience and diligence. I had a lot of people come up afterwards and tell me that they liked it. I mentioned my mom a couple times in it, and how a big of an influence she has been in my life.  Love you Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

Tomorrow we´re going to the Temple!!! Sweeeeet! I´m so stoked! Its been like, 22 months since I´ve been to the temple! On Friday we´re going to have another trainers meeting in Tegucigalpa, which means that we´re going to spend several hours this week in a bus. 16 to be exact. Fun stuff eh?

Well, I love you all and I wish the best. Take care and see you soon

Elder Hansen

10 - 05/06/13

This week was SWEET!

The obra misional is going really great. We are still struggling in some things, but that is what comes when you white wash an area. What we are really good at is finding new people to teach. We found 5 new families to teach this week, which for me is AMAZING! I don´t think I´ve ever found 5 in one week. The Lord is blessing us. 

My comp and I are getting along really well. He´s pretty much the best. I made him pancakes today while he was showering in an attempt to surprise him. When I went to the bedroom to drop them off, he was shining my shoes! Hahahaha, what a great guy.

Its weird that this week is Mother's Day. This is my last time to call home in the mission. I´m excited to talk to my family.

Things are looking really good here in Honduras. I´m happy to be here. I love you all I miss you too.

Elder Hansen

11 - 04/29/13

I love my life!

Things are going really great here in Catacamas. So we came to this area with tons of excitement and energy, and we are starting to see the results. The numbers have more than doubled in both our area and district in New investigators, Lessons taught with member and investigators at church. We´re pretty stoked, and everyone is working hard. We should finish this week with 5 baptisms, which means 5 interviews. I love doing interviews, they are always really spiritual experiences.

Me and my comp are tearing it up here in Catacamas. We recieved 9 references this week, which was a big surprise for me. The members like us, which is pretty nice. We still don´t have any lunches or dinners yet, but those will come with time. We prayed on Saturday that we could have something to eat, and we got lunch and dinner that day from random people. Prayer works.

But yeah, we found 10 investigators this week and 2 new families. We´re pretty excited. We´ve got 2 teens that we are working with for baptism. Their Mom gave us permission yesterday, and they also went to church for the second time. We´re planning the baptism for the 25 of May, so hopefully they´ll accept it and we can finish this month with some baptisms! Woo Hoo

I´ve noticed that I want my companion to have the best mission possible, so that I´m pushing myself to make sure that it becomes a reality. I love him so much. He´s a great kid.

An Elder in my district lost his father this week. He´s the only member in his family, and he´s having a hard time right now. His name is Elder Guevara, and if you could keep him in your prayers, it would be great. He went home to El Salvador to go to the funeral, but he´s coming back on Tuesday.

Well, things are going great here in Honduras. I hope you guys all have a great week. Take care.

Elder Hansen

12 - 04/22/13

New Companion - Elder "J"
New Area - Guayape A
New Zone - Catacamas

Sweeeeet.

Things are going pretty great in the mission. Wednesday we had transfers, and I´m going to be honest, they caught me by surprise. 

So I heard that we had a large group of Elders from Nicaragua coming this transfer. Just to explain a little bit, we´ve had some really disobedient Elders come from Nicaragua. I was pretty worried that I was going to get one. 

Also, the Catacamas Zone has been closed off for Gringos for quite some time now. Almost 2 years to be exact. They started off in Juticalpa, which is a neighboring city, and Elder Dunlop was the first in Catacamas a few transfers ago. But yeah, I wasn´t expecting to be called there.  It's the first Zone that they announce in the meeting, so first I saw one of my good friend, Elder "L", was called as the new ZL there, and then the next one after him was yours truly.  I´ll be double timing it as DL and Trainer, and Guayape hasn´t had a gringo in it for over 2 years. I´m stoked to be here, and things are looking good.  The Branch is so excited to see us. The last Elders here really screwed things up.  Sadly, Gringos or white elders are generally more obedient and harder workers.  They haven´t had a good pair of missionaries in a while. 

My companion is from Nicaragua.  He is different than the stereotype that they give to all Elders from Nicaragua. He speaks English, he is obedient and we get along really, really well. He´s very independent, and it helps us out alot.  We are working as equals, and that's something I love.  Things are going really, really good in our companionship. 

So I´ve always had the desire to go to Catacamas, and now I´ve got it.  It's really funny out here, mostly because the majority of the people are Latin Cowboys. They walk around with their revolvers and ride around on horses and everything. I´ve also learned that the rumors aren´t true. It's a very peaceful place, and I actually feel safer here than I did in Tegucigalpa. 

I was expecting to have a little break from being DL. Turns out the Lord wants me to work hard until the end. I´m excited for the blessing that will come from being diligent. 

We came here and there were literally no investigators. Nothing. Nada. The area book is pretty empty and pathetic. So we started contacting like crazy. We found 14 new investigators and 3 new families in 4 days. I´ve never had that kind of success in the city, so I´m pretty excited to be here. The people here are more humble. I like that. 

Oh yeah, Catacamas is a 4 hour drive away from Tegucigalpa. I´m pretty far out. 

Well, just wanted to let you know that I´m safe, happy and pumped. Things are going great, and I love you all. Take care guys 

Elder Hansen

Whoa!

I feel like this was a week full of times where I was like WHOA! I can´t help but think of the turtles from Finding Nemo. Ha ha ha ha, I remember watching that movie a million times with Matt and Jake when they were little. 

So this week I experienced my first earthquake. It lasted 3 seconds, and it wasn´t very strong, but it was really, really cool. We had just finished eating lunch, and we were sitting in our beds talking when the beds and walls started to shake. I was like whoa! Who´s shaking my bed? Then I realized the earth was moving! 

We also had some amazing lessons with our investigators. I felt the spirit very strongly several times. Elder "R" and I had a little bit of a argument on Friday, but Saturday morning we kissed and made up. Things are going good in our area. 

I´m also going to be finishing my mission training. Whoa. 

They called me up on Tuesday when I was in interchanges. I was like, "Hey President, whats up?" And he was like,"Well Elder Hansen, I have a lot of trust in you, and I want to you train a new Elder.  Are you ready?" And I was like, "Whoa! Sweeet!" 

On Friday we had our training meeting to teach us how to be better trainers. It was exactly the same as last time I trained, but I enjoyed the refresher.  

Today they told me that I´ll be opening a new area. Thanks to my connections, I know that they are opening 5 new areas, so I´ve made my prediction on where I´ll be going. We´ll see if I was right. 

Thanks for everything guys. I loved the Easter packages and letters. I hope you guys have a great week this week. By next week I´ll tell you who my last companion is and my last area. Whoa

Elder Hansen

General Conference - 04/08/13

This week was absolutely amazing! I loved every minute of it. We started off the week on fire, and we had tons of success, even though we didn´t work at all on Saturday and only half of the day on Sunday. General Conference was definitely the highlight, and holy cow, it was amazing.

Last night we had an amazing lesson with"L.R.".  He is AWESOME!  We talked about marriage and baptism, and we set some goals. I probably won´t be here to see it, but I´m going to do everything in my power to make sure it happens. My companion told me it was the most spiritual moment of his life. He was bawling while he gave his testimony, and it was a very powerful moment. Things are looking good here in our area.

My comp bought me a doughnut, which is one of my favorite foods here in Honduras. They went to Pricemart, which is basically a Cosco. He bought the doughnuts straight out of the bakery, so it was still warm and fresh when I ate it. Yummmy

Changes are next week. I´ve been here for 3 changes, and in my last 3 areas I´ve left after 3 changes. Maybe its a sign, or maybe I´ll stay here for another month and a half. Personally, I don´t want to go. But I know that the Lord knows best, and I trust in him. 

My birthday was pretty cool, I guess. I still haven´t gotten the package, but I figure it will get here pretty soon. The other elders smashed eggs on my head and threw flour all over me as well. It was a pretty funny experience, and I had a good laugh. Honduras has some really weird traditions, especially for birthdays. 

Well, life is great. I love you guys and I wish you the best. Conference was amazing, but if we don´t change our lives, its like it never happened. Remember that Jesus died so that we can change.

Elder Hansen

Easter! - 04/01/13

So here in Latin America, its not just Easter, it's the Holy Week, or Semana Santa.  It's pretty cool to see how rich the culture is here. But yeah, it's a week were the Catholics do a lot of cool public activities and they do some little representations and stuff.  To everyone else its just spring break. But yeah, it hurt and helped us this week. The people that didn´t go to the beach listened to us pretty much everyday, but more than half of our investigators left. But we still made something out of nothing and made it an excellent week with 14 lessons with member. Woo Hoo 

In other news, things are going great with my companion. He´s a really great guy. We got a really great reference this week.  We taught him the restoration and he asked us when can he be baptized.  I love it when they ask that. It doesn´t really happen all that often, but I´m grateful that the Lord loves us and is taking control. We are very blessed, even though sometimes I wonder if we are worthy of all of these blessings. 

I hit 21 months in the mission on Friday. Thursday I´ll be turning 21 years old. Weird, huh. My companion keeps telling me that we should throw a party. I think that it's just a big waste. I´ll probably just buy some strawberries and make some smoothies. Yummy. 

Today we´re going to paint Easter eggs!  I´m pretty excited because its something other than soccer! Wooooo Hoooo! Easter rocks! And this weekend is General Conference! I´m so stoked!  

Well guys, life is going really really great. I´m working hard and I´m not baggy, even though I´m the oldest elder in the zone and everyone reminds me all the time. I know that Jesus died so that we can change. So don´t wallow in your sins and make excuses.  Make changes and be like He is. 
Love you all.

Elder Hansen

Pancakes! - 03/25/13

So we recently bought a 10 pound bag of Krusteaz pancake mix. It was the best 7 bucks I´ve ever spent, and it has made breakfast a million times better. Something that we´ve also discovered is that  cinnamon pancakes are delicious. I think its funny that pancake in Spanish is panqueque, which translated to english means bread-what-what.

This week was a really, really, good week. We taught 15 lessons with members, which was pretty amazing. We also found a new family this week, and they are AMAZING! So she is a less active member who contacted us in the street asking where the church was so that she could go. They just moved in a month ago or so, and they have 2 little kids. He isn´t a member, and he is really friendly to us and he is also very intelligent. We played soccer with him today, and that really helped to gain his trust. He´s 23 years old, working and studying at the University, and really I can tell that he´s going to be baptized. They were going to go to church, but the alarm didn´t go off. Dang you Satan! Oh well, they told us for sure that they are going next week. They are the best, and we are so stoked to help them come unto Christ.

We also had a really cool experience with another investigator this week. She has been praying and waiting for an answer to her prayer for about 2 weeks now, and on Saturday she told us that she got her answer. She knows that it's true, and she wants to be part of the church. She was going to go to church yesterday, but her uncle, who is a member, didn´t pick her up! I was so sad, because we are taught that we should have the members pass by, and its her own uncle. Oh well, she´s rock solid, so I´m not too worried about it.

As a district, things are going pretty well. We have banana bread in the oven right now, and we´re going to go make some baleadas for lunch. Yummmy! 

Things are going great. If you guys want to pray for our investigators, here is a list of the ones we are focusing on and their problems.

Jose - smoking
Karla - church assistance
Luis - answer to prayer
Karelia - answer to prayer

Elder Hansen

Temple! - 03/18/13

So yesterday was the Temple Dedication! Woooo Hoooo! It was a really cool experience, and I loved it. I´m pretty excited to go with President and do some sessions. Life is really good right now.

So me and my comp are doing really, really well together. We´re teaching tons of lessons, and our zone is doing amazing right now. We´re doing lots of good to lots of people. It feels good. 

We´ve still got 92 references from the temple to contact. Sadly we could only contact 5 of them this week. There never is enough time.

I´m not quite sure what else I should write. Things are going great. The area is amazing, my comp is amazing, the district is amazing. I´m loving it
Elder Hansen

Como? - 03/11/13

So I was surprised at what happened this week, but I´m glad it happened.

On Tuesday, they called and told me the changes, but told me that my area was still in the works. That kinda freaked me out a little bit. They called later that day and told us that I was staying and that my comp was leaving. Everyone was shocked at that, including me. I had already said goodbye to almost everyone, and I had my bags packed. It's pretty ironic because this was the first time that I´ve packed in advance. But that's okay. Anyway, I´m happy to still be here in the Pradera, and the ward is really happy as well. My ex-comp is pretty upset with me. I told President everything that happened, and my ex-comp had an interview with President. He got sent far away to a little pueblo, but I´m guessing he won´t stay there very long. I talked to his new comp and wished him luck. Elder "G" is really good at working with disobedient elders, so I know he´ll do good. 

My new comp is Elder "R". He is from Burlington, Iowa. I think he might be in the same stake as Aunt Pam and Uncle Jerry because he told me his stake center is in Nauvoo. Cool beans huh? We get along pretty well, and he likes making goals, which is cool with me. He´s obedient and he likes working hard. This looks like its going to be a great transfer. 

We had two baptisms last week and we´re going to have two more this weekend. I think this might be the first time that the district is going to meet the goal. I´m pretty stoked. 

All of the Elders in my district are training, except for me. It's great to see all of their excitement for the work. I would love to train again. I think it would be a great way to finish the mission. And no, I´m not baggy. 

Thanks for the letters and the prayers. I´m feeling a lot better. If you´d like to pray for one of our investigators, it would be José.  We really need him to come to church, but he´s got a hernia, so it makes it hard.

This weekend is the Temple Dedication. I´m so excited and privileged to be here. I really feel like things couldn´t be better.

Adios mis amigos. Cuidense mucho

Elder Hansen

Humbled unto the Dust - 03/04/13

This week was great. I grew a lot and also learned a lot.

I´m sick, like most of the family. I´ve got the flu, and its been hard. Right now I don´t have my voice, and this is the third day that I´ve been like this. It's hard to do missionary work when you can barely whisper, but we´re doing it. I really liked how the investigators pay even more attention to what I say. I try to say it more simply and with less words, and I really like it. I think I´m going to continue after I feel better, because I feel like its more sincere and to the point.

We had the baptism of Sister "B" on Friday. She asked me to baptize her, and I felt honored to do it. She´s awesome, and her husband wants to get baptized as well, but he can´t until he stops smoking. We´re working with him as well, but he told her that he didn´t want to hold her back from the blessings. I really wanted to baptize them together, but its cool. I know that he´s going to get baptized one day. I love them. They´re very dear to me.

My companion has been very rebellious lately. We played soccer on Wednesday, and he started playing a little physical with me, so I returned the favor. He didn´t like it when I started to push back, especially because I´m bigger and stronger than he is. Probably wasn´t what Jesus would do, so I´ve still got some work to do. He doesn´t study, wake up on time, or plan with me, and he refuses to leave until 3:30 in the afternoon. He doesn´t like walking long distances either. I´ve been very patient and loving with him, I didn´t blow up on him this week.

Wednesday is changes, and while they haven´t told me that I´m officially leaving, I feel like its going to happen. I started packing my bags today. We won´t know until Tuesday morning, but that's okay. They´re opening up a new zone and 10 new areas, which is pretty exciting. They are also dividing a ton of already existing areas, but everyone is hoping to be sent to the 10 brand new ones. I think it would be cool to make history like that.

Happy Birthday Tyler. I hope it was great!

One more week - 02/25/13

This week has been a really interesting week to say the least. Its been a rollercoaster of ups and downs, but I must say things are a lot better than they were last week. Sorry that I was a little negative, I´m only human.

So we had some really cool things happen this week. On Friday we headed on out to Ojojona to marry Familia "A"! It was soooo cool! Ojojona is this little pueblo out in the middle of nowhere. Its like straight up 1800´s in there with like donkeys and wagons and a huge catholic church. There are tons of little tourist shops with cool little souvenirs. I didn´t buy any, but I might go back later and get some stuff, like a cool leather belt. They were so stoked about it, and afterwards I took us out to eat. It was great!

Then later that day, we had the baptism of "J"! We weren´t sure if he was going to get baptized mostly because we hadn´t taught him lesson 4 until the night before his baptism. Luckily he wasn't  drinking coffee or anything, and he told us how the spirit testified to him that the church is true. His testimony is rock solid, and I´m so stinking proud of him. He makes me all happy inside. His girlfriend turned in her mission papers a week ago, and he said that he wants to go on a mission as well! We´re really happy for them both, and it was really cool to help teach him the gospel.

Binda "A" was mad at me because we didn´t pass by on Saturday. She told us on Sunday that she wants to be baptized now! Ha ha ha ha, I think that's a first that an investigator is mad at me because they want to be baptized immediately. We put a fecha with her for this Friday so that her husband can come. He tells everyone that he´s Mormon, and he´s super stoked to go to church on Sunday. He was going to go last week, but a work partner didn´t show up to take his place. He was so sad about that, and it turns out his work partner lost his job for not showing up. He had to work yesterday, but he told us that this week he´s going.

Things are going great here. We´re having fun, and I´m picking my battles and its working out pretty well. My comp had an interview with President today. Thanks for the prayers.

I think I´ve probably doubled my charity, humility and patience this week. It's good though, and I feel closer to God for it.

Oh yeah, there's only one more week until transfers, and Pres told my comp that I´m leaving. Also there's only one more week of the temple open house.

Take care guys!

Elder Hansen

Another week - 02/18/13

I´m not going to lie, this week was hard.

Teaching wise, things are going great. We´re finding new people to teach, our investigators are progressing, and I´m so proud of our area and of the district. On Saturday, we brought all of Familia "A" to the temple. We finally got the Dad to come with us, and he loved it and said that he felt something tingly in his chest. After explaining that it was the Holy Ghost, he said he liked it and he wants to feel it more. Man, I love the temple."J", another investigator, also said the exact same thing, and we explained that feeling to him as well, and he is going to be baptized this Saturday. We´re stoked!

On Thursday night, I lost my patience with my companion. I blew up on him, and he did on me. It wasn´t pretty. We had exchanges the next day with the Zone Leaders mostly because I needed some space. I talked with them alot about it, and they told me that I should talk to President about what my companion is doing.

We´ve talked alot about it, and I´ve told him that I´m sorry for blowing up on him. There are two ways of correcting people, the Lord´s way and Satan´s way. I feel bad that I did it the wrong way, and I´m repenting for it, but I´m just so sick of dragging him around, listening to him complain and being a hypocrite.

Sorry guys, this letter isn´t incredibly inspiring. I´m frustrated.

I know that Jesus loves me and he loves my companion, so I´m praying and asking for love for him. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Thanks for everything guys. I hope you all have a great week. Take it easy

Elder Hansen

A Rush of Emotions - 02/11/13

This week was pretty crazy. Thanks for the prayers, they worked. 

We had some really really powerful moments this week with my 
companion, including a really long comp inventory. Long story short,
he´s staying, repenting, and moving on. We´ve still got a few little
sins to fix, but we´ve conquered the big ones. 

Saturday we went to the temple twice, once with "D" in the morning
and the other at night with Familia "A". We´ve got plans to go with
"J" on Tuesday and "V" on Wednesday. On Saturday 15k people
showed up to the temple, so needless to say it was a little packed.
The good thing is that everyone said that they want to go back, so I´m
excited to take them when we can take our time and explain a little
bit better what the warm feeling is that they´re feeling and why there
are two mirrors, etc etc. 

Last night we goofed off a little bit. We used the talc powder that we
have and had a huge talc fight. We were all covered in white powder,
and so was the entire house. We had a good laugh, but cleaning it up
wasn´t that funny. I enjoyed it though, and it was a good way to blow
off some steam. 

We had a FHE with President Fortuna last night. All 4 of the
missionary pairs in the district brought a family, and we all squished
inside of a mini van and we hit up his place. It was really spiritual,
and it was my first FHE with the preident. I loved it, and so did Familia
"A". Things are going really really really good right now. 

Thanks for everything guys. I could really feel the Lord´s protecting
hand this week. Want you guys to know that I´m safe and sound. Love
you all. 

Elder Hansen

Open House - 02/04/13

We talked to Bro "A" for the first time last night. He told us before the lesson that he´s been listening to us for a while, that he loves our religion and what we do. He told us that now he wants to tell all of his friends that he´s a Mormon, but he´s scared because he doesn´t know the doctrine, so he picked up the Book of Mormon we gave him and he said that he´s got to be ready for their attacks. He works guard duty, so he´ll have tons of time to read. I´m so stoked for him and for his family. Things are looking really really good with him.

So this Saturday the Open House starts up. I´m freaking pumped! The first session is at 8:30 AM, and I´m hoping I can convince an investigator to go with me that early. If not, I´m sure I can go with one later in the day. We´ll have a bus leave every 30 minutes from the church, so that's pretty exciting. Or I could just walk there in 15 minutes. Either way, I´m going!!! Woo Hoo!

In other news, we had emergency transfers on Thursday.  My comp was called in to take the place of any elder and that elder came over here with me.  I´m trying not to judge him and to just see him as God see´s him. He doesn´t want to be here anymore. He told me that he´s going to talk to his Stake President. He called President last night, and they´re going to have an interview this week. I´m just trying to do what's right. I just want to teach the gospel. Mission drama is so dumb.

I miss my old comp. He´s a great guy, but I´m glad that the Lord trusts him enough to clean up the mess.

We´re planning to have a triple wedding on Valentine's Day. We´re going to marry Familia "A", and they are so stoked! The Relief Society president is throwing a party for them, so I´m really happy that we are getting so much support from the ward.

Thanks for everything guys. If you guys could pray for my companion, it would be great. He needs a lot of help. Also, if you could pray for me, I need to know what to say so that I can help him too. I don´t want him to throw his mission away.

Take care guys! Thanks for all of the prayers. You guys are the greatest!

Elder Hansen

Feeling Good - 01/28/13

This week was a really rewarding week. Elder "H" and I decided that it was time to roll up the sleeves and do some work. So we might´ve skipped a few meals to go contacting, which is definitely my favorite missionary activity. And it was pretty great actually, and the Lord blessed us for our sacrifices. We found 14 new investigators this week, which is pretty good. It feels really good at the end of the day knowing that you gave it your all.

The temple is right around the corner. On Sunday, we divided out invitations to us and the ward missionaries. Even though we gave out around 200 to the ward missionaries, we still got left with a chunk of 80 invitations. So that's going to be taking up most of our time nowadays.

 We had some investigators bum out on us this week, but we also saw a few miracles. One in particular happened in Familia "A".   Two of the daughters are recent converts, but the rest of the family is hardcore evangelicos. The dad didn´t want anything to do with us, and we´re working with the mom.  The mom recently told us that she wants to get baptized so we started working on her wedding but she was dragging her feet.  It eventually got to the point where she didn´t have any other excuse and she just told us in effect "not now". Well, we decided the best action to take was to just start reading in the Book of Mormon with her. Turns out that the Dad was listening to us on the other side of the wall, and that the spirit touched his heart. He left to go take out his paperwork so that this weekend they can get married. He also wants to take the discussions, go to church and visit the temple. All because of those "two persistent young gentlemen" who  "touched his heart with the Word of God". He´s never had any desire to go to any church, but the Holy Ghost changed that. Pretty cool huh?

The district is doing great. There is a lot of unity right now, so we´re having fun.

A special thanks to the Primary for all of the drawings. I really enjoyed them. And to Uncle Ray and Sarah, Wes and Natalie, the Richies and Bishopric for all of the Christmas cards. You guys are the best.
Take care guys! Adios´m

Elder Hansen

Life couldn't be better - 01/21/13

To answer your first question, yes I ran outside, but in Honduras, the houses look more like prisons. We´ve termed our house Alcatraz because of the 12 foot cinder block wall with barbed wire that surrounds our house. So nobody saw me in my undies, don´t worry.

I´m still in La Pradera, and my new comp is Elder "H" from Seattle Washington. It's always fun because everyone asks us if we´re from Utah, and both of us aren´t. I like him a lot and this is going to be a great transfer. He´s got 6 months in the mission. He was trained, and then he trained, so that means that he was a better missionary than I was at this time. He´s really responsible, funny, and hard working. He is a huge support to me as DL, and I´m pretty sure the reason why he is here is because I´m unofficially training him to be the DL when I leave. I did that in my other area with Elder "T", so we´ll see if my prediction is right.

Things are hustling and bustling here. The temple open house starts up on the 2nd, but not to the public until the 9th. Our ward is assigned the morning slot on the opening day. Its pretty cool guys, I´m not going to lie. Its really cool how everyone is teaming up to make this a success, and we´re stoked to be a part of it. I won´t be doing any tours of the temple, but I can go as many times as I want as long as I bring an investigator. I plan on bringing all of my investigators and using it to contact new people. The Spirit is always so strong there, and I´m really, really, really excited to be a part of this. Life couldn´t be better.

 We got 6 references yesterday, which was an answer to a prayer. One of the speakers was a missionary who is leaving for his mission to New Jersey today. He passed around white slips before church started and he asked the ward to write down a reference for the missionaries. He said "I could talk about missionary work, but its better if we just do it". We got 4 from the audience of 115, but we´re grateful for the blessing. The other two we got by visiting some members, who would´ve given it at church, but they didn´t have slips.

 Be sure and tell Jacob Happy Birthday for me. I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week!  

Life is always changing - 01/14/13

Life is always changing.

So we´ve got transfers on Wednesday, which is pretty exciting. President Fortuna called us as I was walking out of the shower in a towel. Nobody wanted to answer, so of course as the DL, I had to do it. He asked for my companion, and he was so nervous. He said, Elder "A", are you ready to train? I ran out of the house hooting and hollering. I think Pres probably heard me,  but I don´t care. I´m so happy for him, and his companion is going to be really blessed to have him as a trainer.

We don´t know who is going to be leaving this transfer. He could open a new area, seeing as how they are opening 6 new areas this transfer. Or I could leave, and he could stay. We don´t know, and we probably won´t until Tuesday night.

I´m going to be making cookies for the district tomorrow. I´m pretty excited, and hopefully I won´t burn them. I love the district so stinking much, its going to be hard to see some of them go.

That's awesome about Ryan and Holly going on missions! Good luck guys! You´ll both do great! (Ryan and Holly are Brett's cousins on the Tuckett side.)

I think that wraps it up. Take care guys. See you next week

Elder Hansen

P.S.  If you guys could do me a favor, we need a miracle with Hermana"M". We´ve hit a wall, and we´re not quite sure how we can help her. Any prayers would be nice. 

Living the good life - 01/07/13

So this week I realized how blessed we really are. Life is good.

We found a new family of 5 this week. They are pretty cool. We found them contacting, and turns out that the Dad´s Mom was baptized not too long ago in our ward. He wanted to learn more about the church, but didn´t know who to ask. Hurray for being guided by the spirit! Woo Hoo!

 I spent a lot of time with the missionaries in the District this week. I feel like they are all my friends and that I have a solid relationship with all of them. I did some interchanges, and it was fun to see how they are working in their areas. This should be a really good month for the district.

 We had a Leadership Meeting with President Fortuna. I showed up late, which was pretty embarrassing. The AP´s asked why I was late, and I told them traffic, even though there was nobody out in the roads. Really I just lost track of time. I live pretty close to the Stake Center, but I forgot that it takes my comp 20 minutes to get ready from the time you say, "Lets go". I´m grateful for the opportunity to develop more patience and brotherly love.

 I´m also craving a good ol´ camping trip. That is definitely going on the list of things to do when I go home.

I also got some talks in the mail, so those keep me pretty happy as well. I just want to share a cool spiritual thought that I found today during personal study.
1 Nephi 15:7-11

So Laman and Lemuel are complaining, like normal, about how they can´t understand the words of their father. Nephi tells them to go pray, but they say the Lord doesn´t give them knowledge. Laman and Lemuel were right, the Lord won´t give them an answer to their prayers. It's because they know that they weren´t worthy to recieve an answer. We can´t ask things of the Lord if we know that we aren´t keeping the commandments. Verse 11 explains it better than I can, but yeah, that's why we have to be obedient. If we aren´t obedient, than we can´t expect to ask God for things without feeling bad about ourselves.

 I love you guys. I hope you all have a fantastic new year and that you can all make great new goals for this year. Remember a goal isn´t a goal until it's written down, it's just a desire.

Elder Hansen

Happy New Year - 12/31/12

Well, today is the last day of 2012. It's pretty weird to me to think that I spent the entire year in Honduras. Holy cow, time goes by really, really fast.

So it has finally hit me that I´m not starting the mission. I´m officially one of the old guys. I hit 18 months on December 29th. Man, this is so weird.
We had a baptism this week, so that was pretty exciting. We had it at the Stake Center, and we had all of the baptisms in the zone that day. We planned on it being a huge activity with like 15 baptisms with it being really well prepared and everything. But sadly, if there is one thing that missionaries are great at, it is procrastinating. Sadly, in our district all of the baptisms fell through except for one, and in the other district, they only had three. But it was okay.

We still made the trip out there, and I´m used to showing up an hour early because Grandpa Hansen always taught me that if you´re not an hour early, you´re late! Ha ha ha, but yeah, things always go bad, so its good to be prepared. We get there, and they hadn´t filled up the pila (font), or set up the chairs.  They didn´t have the keys and there was nobody there. Fun stuff. So my comp and I went to work getting everything ready, last minute, like it always is. It turned out alright in the end. I had to baptism Jahaziel 2 times because the first time I mixed up his first and middle name. It wasn´t really my fault, he told me his name was Jahaziel Henry, but on his I.D. its Henry Jahaziel. The good thing is that it all worked out in the end. The sisters bought some delicious milk cake, and everyone was happy.

 Here in Honduras they have a cool tradicion (tradition) where they make little scarecrows and put them out in the street. They ask for money, and then on new years they stuff them with explosives and set them on fire. Its supposedly a symbol of leaving the bad behind by burning it. I just think that the kids here like blowing things up. Anyways, its pretty comical.  I don´t think we´ll be sleeping tonight. Last year it was like World War 3, so we´ll see how things go.

Thanks for everything guys. I´m happy to be here, and I´m not trunky. Things are going great. Take it easy.

Elder Hansen